Speculation: 2018-19 Roster Discussion #3 - Not so bad at the moment

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_Del_

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I agree that Burakovsky should be a target. He’s just not getting any ice time. So maybe with more opportunity, he’d find a groove here. That said, he’s had a lot more talent in Washington and that isn’t sparked him. So he’d definitely be a dice roll. I would pay too much. Not sure where the “plug in at center” but is coming from? He’s never played center at the NHL level and he didn’t play center in the OHL. At least not when he was playing a prominent role on those stacked Otters
He has had a bad year, but he's still .45ppg over more than 300 games.
He has also played center at this level, though he's never stuck there.

ETA:https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capitals-insider/wp/2015/09/19/andre-burakovsky-to-start-at-center/
 
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rt

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He has had a bad year, but he's still .45ppg over more than 300 games.
He has also played center at this level, though he's never stuck there.

ETA:https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capitals-insider/wp/2015/09/19/andre-burakovsky-to-start-at-center/
No he hasn’t. Maybe a game or two. The last 4 seasons (he’s been in the league for five) he’s averaged less than half of one face-off per game (0.38). In that rookie season he had 167 in 53 games. For comparison, Galchenyuk has 360 in 50 games as a Coyote this season. He played maybe 20 games at center, tops? So Burakovsky was given maybe ten games at C in his rookie season and about zero games in the four seasons he’s played after that.

He actually takes a shockingly low number of draws for a pure winger. His centers must never get kicked out of the circle, given how few FOs he takes. Clayton Keller as an example has about three times as many FOs taken per game in his first two years (as a pure winger) than Burakovsky has in the last four seasons, on average.

The article you cited references a very brief and failed experiment that was later followed up with a much briefer failed experiment. We’re taking about a handful of games ever. A fraction of what even Galchenyuk got here.
 

rt

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EDIT:

“The Capitals switched the 20-year-old from wing to center last summer after he had only played wing in junior hockey. He initially beat out Kuznetsov in the second-line center competition, but as the season went on, his ice time dropped and Kuznetsov got hot, solidifying himself as the team’s second-line center.
Through the first 15 games, Burakovsky had notched 12 points, but in December he played sparingly, which Trotz attributed to a lack of defensive-zone detail and strength along the walls. He was reassigned to Hershey for 11 games in the spring. He shined at wing in the Capitals’ second-round playoff series against the Rangers, notching three points across Games 3 and 4.”

So he never played C in junior, then he got 10-15 games at C as a rookie before before being sent to the minors and finding his game at wing, then they tried to start him at C the next year to cover for a Backstrom injury and that lasted only a few games.

So that’s about 20 games tops out of 306 NHL games. Sounds like he was a wing for the vast majority of his AHL play (only 13 games) and no center at all in his 57 OHL games (thought he had two seasons with Erie, huh?)

I like Burakovsky. If he’s cheap-ish, I’d love to pick him up. But he’d be a center option behind Schmaltz, Galchenyuk, Keller, Dvorak, Stepan, Richardson, and Cousins. Maybe even more.
 

_Del_

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I am not looking at him to be an everyday C. I'm saying he's another swing guy like Schmaltz and Galchenyuk that let's you mix and match lines when we have holes in the lineup.
I don't think Schmaltz is a center. I don't think Keller is a center. I don't think Burakovski is a center. I'm less sure about Galchenyuk, but he has already been relegated to wing.
I'm saying I like having a handful guys (like those) able to plug in there when we need them that are not bottom six C's. Or "optionality", if we need a buzzword. Would prefer Burakovski at C to Keller there, for instance, when we have injuries. That has value to me.
Stepan and Dvorak are our only actual centers in the top six. Richardson is a 3C that isn't really geared to slot up. Cousins has "optionality" in a bottom six role. I don't like him playing up in the lineup either. Much prefer a Galchenyuk, Schmaltz, Burakovski type guy to play C when Dvorak and Stepan are out. Ideally we would find a good enough fit between those three or another add to push Stepan to 3C fulltime and Richardson to 4C even if i means shoehorning a winger into our 2C slot in the short term.
I spent a lot of time this offseason lobbying for more swing guys in the bottom six like Richardson, Cousins. Winnik, Brodziak, et al. It's one of the Chayka things I agree with.
 
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AZviaNJ

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Didn't realize until I checked Cap Friendly today, Goligoski's NMC turns into a modified NMC after this season. With the resigning of Oesterle, emergence of Lybushkin and number of LHD in the system Goligoski might be on the way out. He'll miss his usual 35 point mark this season, but would seem to have some level of value.
 
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rt

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I am not looking at him to be an everyday C. I'm saying he's another swing guy like Schmaltz and Galchenyuk that let's you mix and match lines when we have holes in the lineup.
I don't think Schmaltz is a center. I don't think Keller is a center. I don't think Burakovski is a center. I'm less sure about Galchenyuk, but he has already been relegated to wing.
I'm saying I like having a handful guys (like those) able to plug in there when we need them that are not bottom six C's. Or "optionality", if we need a buzzword. Would prefer Burakovski at C to Keller there, for instance, when we have injuries. That has value to me.
Stepan and Dvorak are our only actual centers in the top six. Richardson is a 3C that isn't really geared to slot up. Cousins has "optionality" in a bottom six role. I don't like him playing up in the lineup either. Much prefer a Galchenyuk, Schmaltz, Burakovski type guy to play C when Dvorak and Stepan are out. Ideally we would find a good enough fit between those three or another add to push Stepan to 3C fulltime and Richardson to 4C even if i means shoehorning a winger into our 2C slot in the short term.
I spent a lot of time this offseason lobbying for more swing guys in the bottom six like Richardson, Cousins. Winnik, Brodziak, et al. It's one of the Chayka things I agree with.
Burakovsky is a swing to center guy like Christian Fischer or Lawson Crouse. Meaning he’s not at all.
 

_Del_

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He beat out Kuznetsov for a battle at C at one point. He wasn't strong enough defensively or strong enough on the boards to be a full time C under Trotz-- and they have been fortunate to have had MJohansson, Backstrom, Kuznetsov, Richards, Eller, Winnik,Beagle, et al at C over that time.
I don't think he's a fulltime center. For the same reasons Trotz didn't. It's the same reason I don't see Schmaltz or Keller there either, but we're still so thin they've been tried there.
Saying he's like Fischer or Crouse as a replacement C isn't helping me take this very seriously
 

rt

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He beat out Kuznetsov for a battle at C at one point. He wasn't strong enough defensively or strong enough on the boards to be a full time C under Trotz-- and they have been fortunate to have had MJohansson, Backstrom, Kuznetsov, Richards, Eller, Winnik,Beagle, et al at C over that time.
I don't think he's a fulltime center. For the same reasons Trotz didn't. It's the same reason I don't see Schmaltz or Keller there either, but we're still so thin they've been tried there.
Saying he's like Fischer or Crouse as a replacement C isn't helping me take this very seriously
No he didn’t. He has barely taken any face offs at all. The number of face offs he took in no way supports your narrative. Neither does the article you linked. Youre taking about 12-18 games in a 300+ game career. It was a fart in the wind.
 

BUX7PHX

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Maloney made some great trades, but boy was his drafting history 'frighteningly' bad.

Easy to do with little to no scouting department. I think that is half of the reason why we have some depth with Chayka at the helm - one of his first to-dos that was crossed off the list was getting additional resources for scouting so that we weren't limited to one guy covering all of Canada.
 
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rt

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I still love you, apeman with bad habits. I just think you're wrong.
In over 306gp, he has fewer than 300FOs total.

That’s nothing. Even a part-time center like Martinook who actually fill that role you’re describing, occasionally filling in at C when needed has over 1,400FOs in 305gp. Even Nick Cousins who rarely plays C has almost 1,100FOs in 238gp.

These are dedicated wingers with four and five times his FOs. He’s not a fill-in center. He’s as pure winger as wingers can be. It’s not something that can be “wrong” it’s just a fact.

Having said all of that, I agree with you that he’d be a good add and I’d be happy to have him. And also, I’m not mad! :) it’s a good discussion. Haha.
 
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_Del_

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If we pick up Wennberg and Burakovski while value is low, we get a boost this year, and next year we roll:

Schmaltz-Wennberg-Galchenyuk
Keller-Dvorak- Burakovski
Crouse-Stepan-Garland
Grabner-Richardson - Hinostroza
Cousins, Merkley

OEL, Hammer
Chychrun, Demers
Goligoski, Oesterle
Lyubushkin

(Assuming Fischer, Panik and picks or nonroster D out for the two adds). Depth for injuries. All NHL players. Let's us roll four lines. Basically any of those lines looks as good as anything we've iced since moving Hanzal. Also lets us shop for free agents conservatively with no real holes to fill. Could always move people if we need to make room later if we score a UFA or Merkley pushes onto the roster fulltime.
 

rt

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If we pick up Wennberg and Burakovski while value is low, we get a boost this year, and next year we roll:

Schmaltz-Wennberg-Galchenyuk
Keller-Dvorak- Burakovski
Crouse-Stepan-Garland
Grabner-Richardson - Hinostroza
Cousins, Merkley

OEL, Hammer
Chychrun, Demers
Goligoski, Oesterle
Lyubushkin

(Assuming Fischer, Panik and picks or nonroster D out for the two adds). Depth for injuries. All NHL players. Let's us roll four lines. Basically any of those lines looks as good as anything we've iced since moving Hanzal. Also lets us shop for free agents conservatively with no real holes to fill. Could always move people if we need to make room later if we score a UFA or Merkley pushes onto the roster fulltime.
The rumored ask on Burakovsky was the equivalent of two 3rds. I’d guess Wennberg is about the same value-wise.
 
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TheLegend

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Isn't he out for the season? Or can he come back around playoff time, I know we aren't likely in anyway?

If you compare his recovery timeline with Demers he’s pretty much on schedule.

Both used the same guy as Chychrun and Merkley did for their rehabs and evidently he’s a real guru at it.
 
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